Heracles play host to Fortuna Sittard on Friday evening looking to end a four-match winless streak in Eredivisie.
While Sittard make the trip to Erve Asito sitting in the relegation zone, they got the better of Willem II in their last fixture.
Match preview
Heracles had endured a respectable start to the campaign, claiming two wins and two draws from their opening seven league fixtures.
However, three defeats from their last four outings have left Heraclieden sitting down in 13th position, a defeat away from Sittard moving level on points with them in the table.
Heracles are already eight points adrift of eighth spot, their finishing position from the the reduced 2019-20 season, and it leaves Frank Wormuth to focus on keeping the club out of trouble.
On the plus side, Heracles head into this fixture on the back of a goalless draw with unbeaten Feyenoord, providing them with something to build on against their next opponents.
Sittard have spent much of the opening 10 games sitting in the relegation zone, claiming just three draws up until last weekend.
Nevertheless, the 3-2 win over Willem II has the potential to change everything for the visitors, even if they did almost squander a three-goal advantage in their most recent match.
Sjors Ultee will naturally have concerns after a poor showing during the second half, but getting over the line has taken the club to within two points of safety.
With none of the top six to come until the back end of January, Sittard have the chance to make considerable headway up the table, a task which would be made easier if they can prevail on Friday evening.
Heracles Eredivisie form: DWLLLD
Heracles form (all competitions): WWLLLD
Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form: LLDLLW
Fortuna Sittard form (all competitions): WLDLLW
Team News
Heracles will be without forward Sinan Bakis, who is serving a one-match suspension.
Adrian Szoke, who is yet to score this season, is expected to come into the attack as his replacement.
Sittard are having to deal with a number of absences due to coronavirus with Joshua Wehking, Nassim el Ablak, Samuel Moutoussamy, Jaroslaw Jach and Jorrit Smeets all out of contention.
George Cox, formerly of Brighton & Hove Albion, is expected to line up at left-back after an impressive start to the season.
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Rente, Propper, Knoester; Breukers, Schoofs, Kiomourtzoglou, Torre, Quagliata; Szoke, Vloet
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Osch; Rota, Angha, Janssen, Cox; Semedo, Rienstra, Tekie, Hansson; Polter, Flemming
We say: Heracles 1-1 Fortuna Sittard
With Fortuna gaining a much-needed victory last time out, this contest should be a closely-fought affair. Both sides may be content with claiming a share of the spoils, and that could lead to a low-scoring draw being played out.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Heracles win with a probability of 71.33%. A draw had a probability of 17.4% and a win for Fortuna Sittard had a probability of 11.31%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heracles win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.87%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (10.25%) and 2-1 (9.52%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.23%), while for a Fortuna Sittard win it was 0-1 (3.56%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 3.3% likelihood.
